"Me and my homeboys sittin' up here talkin' about all the people that President Trump disrespected. Women, gays, transgenders, blacks, Mexicans, Asians, and now veterans" - Snoop Dogg said in a video post about the American president, adding "hmmm. Seems like he's disrespecting every color in the world and everything that ain't what he is, which is a racist". Snoop believes Trump needs to the changed, All Hip Hop reports - "so, the next motherf##ker, you better tell us what we gon' get for your vote. You better show up and deliver, period. We just want some peace, love, equality, and tranquillity for everybody. All lives. Just basic conversation. Now carry on".

An auction featuring items from the collection of long-time Rolling Stones bassist Bill Wyman broke records for the most expensive bass guitar, amplifier, and - a toilet seat, Rolling Stone reports. The record-breaking bass is Wyman’s 1969 Fender Mustang bass with a competition orange finish, which Wyman used on Rolling Stones recordings between 1969 and 1970. It sold for $384,000. Wyman’s 1962 Vox AC30 Normal model amplifier sold for $106,250. The star of the auction was a plush yellow toilet seat cover embossed with the Rolling Stones’ tongue logo which sold for $1,142, another world record, this one for most expensive toilet seat cover. The auction featured over 1,000 lots from Wyman’s archive, including instruments, gear, stage-worn costumes, awards, personal items and ephemera from his time with the Stones and as a solo artist.

The music of the late Johnny Cash - including songs 'Ring of Fire' and 'Walk the Line', will be reimagined by the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra for a new 12-track album that is set to arrive in November, Uncut reports. The album sees Cash’s original vocals being complimented by the orchestra. Johnny Cash’s son, John Carter Cash, says his father was a fan of the RPO: "I was around ten years old and he and I went to see three films from the James Bond saga at a festival in New York. When the theme for Goldfinger began, he leaned over to me. 'That’s the finest orchestra in the world, son', he said. ‘That’s the Royal Philharmonic’".

TikTok operations in the United States will be taken over by Oracle, the Associated Press reports. TikTok, which says it has 100 million U.S. users and about 700 million globally, is a very popular social media among teenagers. In other TikTok news, NME reports that a TikTok video by 19-year-old Bella Poarch soundtracked by a Blackpool grime song ‘M To The B’ has become the most popular video on the entire platform with over 32 million likes.

Singer Jill Brown has started a record label Criminal Records in an effort to give a voice to jailhouse Scots, BBC reports. "It's to plant a seed of hope to let them see that their lives can be better" - Brown says. An inmate named Ryan (in his early 30s) says that music during his incarceration "means everything really. It gives me something positive to do every day. When I'm in my cell it gives me something to look forward to - hopefully using it to keep me out of the jail when I'm outside".

American 19-rapper/singer PPCocaine is calling herself the "filth queen" of TikTok, and she has lyrics such as “Hold on, bitch, did you hear what the Fuck I said? Shake some ass, hoe” to prove it. Her songs feature some seriously X-rated lyrics, which contrast against her cartoon-like singing voice. She has 3 million TikTok followers, some of whom like to do as they're told, and some are opposed. "I get my music is not for everybody, but bitch, keep your opinion to yourself” - as she's told the LA Times.

Revenues for recorded music in the U.S. increased 5.6% to $5.7 billion in the first half of 2020, TechCrunch reports. Streaming continued to drive the growth as the number of paid subscriptions increased by 24% to more than 72 million on average, growing subscription streaming revenues for first-half 2020 by 14%, over first-half 2019. Streaming music revenues grew 12% to $4.8 billion in the first half of 2020. Physical sales, including vinyl albums and compact discs fell 23%.

Big Sean is opening this week’s Billboard 200 at No. 1 as 'Detroit 2' debuts with a total of 103,000 units (93.55 million on-demand streams, 30,000 album sales). This marks the rapper’s third consecutive No. 1 on the chart, Billboard reports.

he Rolling Stones climbed the top of the UK album chart with their reissue of 'Goats Head Soup', the second time the album has ruled the Official U.K. Albums Chart. With their latest chart feat, The Stones become the first band in history to land a No. 1 album across six different decades, UK Chart report. The Rolling Stones now have 13 No. 1 albums, including the 1973 original edition of 'Goats Head Soup', placing them level with Elvis Presley and Robbie Williams. Only The Beatles have more career No. 1 albums in the U.K., at 16.

Sid McCray, the original singer of legendary punk band Bad Brains, affectionately known as SidMac, has died, CoS reports. McCray led the band from 1977 to 1978, when they were still a jazz fusion outfit known as Mind Power. He’s credited with introducing his bandmates to punk rock, specifically through albums by Sex Pistols and Ramones, when the band took the name Bad Brains. McCray wrote early Bad Brains songs like 'The Regulator', but ultimately stepped aside as frontman to let his friend and guitarist H.R. take over. He was part of the Brains road crew.

Nothing released 'Say Less', powerful, pounding shoe-gaze new single; new Flaming Lips album is made for people wanting some more of psychedelia light, but 'Assassins of Youth' is a stand-out song in any cosmos; singer-songwriter Krystle Warren made a powerful statement about the struggle for Black equality with a cover of Kermit the Frog's 'Bein’ Green'; Off The Meds may eventually take some wrong steps along the way, but for now they're playing good, slightly dark club music - 'Karlaplan'; (fellow Swedes) Dark Tranquility play what they know best on 'Phantom Days' - melodic death metal; Delta Spirit released a new album, with a happy Americana 'It Ain't Easy' as a stand-out song.

Education initiative FutureDJs first managed to get DJ decks recognised as an instrument for GCSE assessment. Last week they went a big step further - London College of Music Examiners published a syllabus that offers grade certifications on CDJs (decks for manipulating music from CDs or digital files). This puts them on a par with classical and jazz instruments, and provides detailed criteria for teachers assessing GCSE-level pupils who work with CDJs. Guardian reports on the big move forward.

Americans purchased $232 million USD worth of vinyl records in the first half of this year, out of a total of $376 million in physical music sales, Pitchfork reports. This marks the first time since the 1980s that CDs were outsold. Streaming revenue brought in $421 million USD in the first six months of 2020.

uDiscover Music has started a new project Black Music Reframed, where Black writers take a new look at Black music and moments that have previously either been overlooked or not properly contextualized. There are stories to uncover even with known superstars like MC Hammer, who was already an enterprising executive prior to his MC career, also Queen Latifah was a jazz artist before she turned to rap.

Toots Hibbert, frontman of the legendary reggae band Toots and the Maytals, has died at the age of 77, after recently been taken to hospital with Covid-like symptoms, Variety reports. One of Jamaica's most influential musicians, he helped popularise reggae in the 1960s with songs like 'Pressure Drop', Monkey Man' and 'Funky Kingston'. Hibbert even claimed to have coined the genre's name, on 1968's 'Do The Reggay'.

Chinese boyband Produce Pandas aren't a parody, they're just average young men that form a, khm, boyband. They are promoting positivity, acting as good role models, but aged between 22 and 31 years old, they are practically geriatric in boyband terms, as Guardian reports. Otter, DING, Mr 17, Cass and Husky were recruited because they don’t fit the standard physique - “This is a plus-sized, all-singing, all-dancing idol band, which has never been seen before in the whole world”, as Mr 17 puts it. The name describes them, they believe - “We just look like a group of pandas: huggable, chubby shape, relaxed and happy attitude”.

Alicia Keys announced she is teaming with the American National Football League for a $1 billion fund that will financially support Black businesses and communities, ALL Hip Hop reports. She announced the project at the NFL Kick-off event, and performed her new song 'Love Looks Better'. Keys said "the fund will create long term solutions with a focus on Black entrepreneurs, businesses, communities, Black schools, banks, and other Black institutions, while addressing persistent social, economic and environmental disparities". NFL faced years of backlash for allegedly blackballing former San Francisco quarterback Colin Kaepernick for his peaceful protests during the playing of the national anthem.

Pitchfork has a lovely story about musicians giving music lessons during the pandemic to make up at least a portion of the money they would be making were they on tour. Also, some of the musician are taking music lessons (learning a second instrument) to support their colleagues. Andy Cush writes - "we’ll be able to perform again someday. When it comes, we’re going to put on the best shows you’ve ever seen. We’ve been practicing".

Fender is experiencing a record sales year, with FMIC chief executive Andy Mooney stating that 2020 “will be the biggest year of sales volume in Fender history, record days of double-digit growth, e-commerce sales and beginner gear sales. more guitars in 2020 than any other year", the New York Times reports. Fender’s guitar-instruction app, Fender Play saw its user base increase to 930,000 from 150,000 between late March and late June. Gibson, Taylor, Martin and others also report pandemic sales booms, showing the powers "of six-string therapy”.

On October 1st, Facebook will update its terms of service agreement which will make it harder for DJs to stream their sets since it will limit the use of videos, and unauthorized content may be removed, DJ TechTools reports. Which leaves Mixcloud Live the only truly “safe” place to stream live DJ sets. For years, Mixcloud has done the hard work of negotiating with rights organizations to be able to host hundreds of thousands of mixes that contain copy-written musical works. It’s a decent system and actively being developed. The other two options out there are YouTube and Twitch, both which have become somewhat more aggressive over DJ set copyright.

Music rights management company BMI generated a record $1.311 billion in revenue, a $28 million increase over the previous fiscal year (ended June 30). BMI distributed and administered also a record $1.233 billion to its affiliated songwriters, composers and publishers, 3% or $37 million more than last year, Variety reports. BMI estimates it absorbed a $60 million negative impact to its revenues due to the COVID-9 effect.

Janelle Monáe shared her rich new song 'Turntables', taken from the upcoming documentary 'All In: The Fight For Democracy'; Knucks dropped his jazzy grime song 'Thames'; Painted Shield is a no-supergroup, made of Pearl Jam’s Stone Gossard and Matt Chamberlain (former PJ), folk singer Mason Jennings and singer Brittany Davis, their new song 'I Am Your Country' is psychedelic, big, and dark; Eartheater's 'Volcano' is ethereal and calm; 'Letting Me Down' is a lovely song with a lovely video of the singer Margo Price dancing through ruins; Jesse Kivel just put some simple bass and a few guitar sounds in 'William'; the title says it all in Rodrigo y Gabriela's 'Electric Soul'.

"Festivals can go ahead safely with adequate testing" - Reading and Leeds boss Melvin Benn has told UK parliamentary committee about reopening venues at full capacity, Music Week reports. "You can’t have festivals with social distancing. You mass test" - Benn said, adding - "trying to open without full capacity is just not an option".

Ronald 'Khalis' Bell, one of the founding members of Kool & the Gang, has died at the age of 68, Rolling Stone reports. He started the band with his brother Robert "Kool" Bell in 1964, becoming one of the most influential soul, funk and R'n'B bands of the 1970s and 1980s, with hits including 'Celebration', 'Ladies' Night' and 'Get Down On It'. As the band's musical director, Bell co-wrote most of their biggest hits.

Berlin’s mythical temple of bassy industrial techno, the Berghain club is reopening today as an art gallery, Guardian reports. Studio Berlin exhibition contains works by 115 international Berlin-based artists that were produced in the city during lockdown. The idea of the exhibition was “to send a message that Berlin’s cultural life is still very much alive”.

Legendary soul singers Gladys Knight and Patti LaBelle are the next guests on Instagram live series Verzuz Battle, which will livestream Sunday, September 13. "The Godmother of Soul" and "the Empress of Soul" will show out at an official venue, The Fillmore in Philadelphia. Billboard wonders that "maybe the two superwomen will take on their Grammy-nominated 'Superwoman' collaboration", or maybe they'll pull from their "highly successful solo stints".

Sturgis Motorcycle Rally brought nearly 500,000 motorcycle enthusiasts to Sturgis, South Dakota between Aug. 7 and 16, and now over 250,000 cases of COVID-19 have been connected to the rally and concert, where Smash Mouth, Trapt, Fozzy, Drowning Pool, Quiet Riot and others performed. A new research paper from the German IZA Institute of Labor Economics also concludes that the Rally generated public health costs of approximately $12.2 billion.

Simeon Coxe, co-founder of the pioneering 1960s experimental electronic band Silver Apples, has died aged 82, the Quietus reports. The duo was active in a short period of time, 1967–1970, releasing two highly influential albums in that period. Bands including Stereolab, Spiritualized and Portishead have cited the group as an influence. Silver Apples also found common ground with Jimi Hendrix, with whom they jammed on 'Star Spangled Banner' in the studio prior to the guitarist’s legendary Woodstock appearance in 1969. The group reunited twice - 1996–1999, and 2006–2016, releasing equally innovative albums. Alexis Petridis wrote a lovely obituary to the guy who "never actually learned to play a keyboard".

Visas for foreign artists looking to tour in the United States are going up around 50% and include P and O visas which are the ones most foreign artists get and allow them to return to the U.S. within one and three years, NME reports. The O visa, which is for “Individuals with Extraordinary Ability or Achievement”, will go from  $460 to $705, while the P visa, which is often used for family members of those individuals, will go up to $695. Wait times for visa will increase to 15 days, though there is a fast-track service for $1000. The new fees and policy changes go into effect October 2.

Ed Sheeran's rare early demo CD recorded by the pop star when he was 13 has been sold for £50,000 at an auction, Sky News reports. Sheeran self-released the promo CD 'Spinning Man' in 2005, with only 21 CD copies of the recording are known to exist, and the majority, apart from the one sold, belongs to Sheeran. He said he didn't "want anyone else to get hold of a copy! Most of the songs were about a girl called Claire. She was my first love when I was 13".